Politics & Government

Hall of Science Program To Enrich Local Students

Congressman secures $2.9 million grant for local students.

Forest Hills students will have the opportunity to get their hands on the future thanks to a federal grant to fund a new science program.

U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-Bayside, said he has secured nearly $3 million for Queens’ to develop a program for city students.

The congressman said the federal funding would go toward the development and testing of SciGames, which uses technology to turn playground games into interactive learning experiences.

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“The New York Hall of Science does an exceptional job of educating our children in science and these funds will be a major boost towards fulfilling that critical mission,” Ackerman said.

One SciGame involves attaching sensors to a playground slide, so that instead of simply racing to the bottom, children will learn how to experiment with different variables, such as the material on which they are sliding.

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This game, which explores energy conservation, also teaches students how to figure out how their choice of material impacts the amount of thermal energy from friction at the bottom of the slide.

Other SciGames involve Newton’s Laws through the use of scooter carts as well as a ball and mallets.

Each game logs experimental data from individual students as they play and incorporates their information into a digital application that they can play back in the classroom.

The app allows students to review the data they collected while on the playground, the congressman said.

“We’re excited to explore this new idea about bridging informal and formal science learning experience to improve New York City students’ understand and interest in science,” said David Kanter, director of the Hall of Science’s Sara Lee Schupf Family Center for Play, Science and Technology Learning.

Ackerman said he has allocated a total $2,995,642 in funds for the program through the U.S. Department of Education’s Interesting in Innovation Development Grants Initiative, which was created under the federal Stimulus Act.

The Queens program could reach as many as 8,000 eighth grade students during the next five years, Ackerman said.

The Hall of Science is located at 47-01 111th St. in Flushing Meadows Corona Park.


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